Rod & Maggie’s Dawlish Ramble – Saturday 8th December

It was a very poor forecast for Rod & Maggies walk from Dawlish railway station to Dawlish Warren but, as it turned out we had sunshine for quite a bit of the way. Nine walkers convened at the railway station for a walk of about 7 miles.

We started off along the sea wall as far as the second bridge over the railway, which we crossed and climbed up to the higher path that would take us to Dawlish Warren. As we reached the top of the cliffs we spotted a rainbow, but the rain had missed us.

Descending into Dawlish Warren we crossed the car park and walked through the tunnel which takes the Great Western Railway’s main line towards Plymouth and beyond. We stopped for a drinks and comfort break before turning across the grass to the far end of the car park where we passed through a couple of gates to take the path alongside the golf course. The beginning of this path is usually quite wet and is often under a shallow pool of water, however today it was clear despite all the rain.

We paralleled the golf course to the left of the path and walked across the Warren to reach a gate and a sandy path, which took us as far as groyne 9. This is as far as dog owners can go but others can usually walk along the top of the dunes and descend a path to the left before heading round the end of the peninsular. This time there was a notice posted at groyne 9 indicating that owing to subsidence, this path had to be closed. As a result we walked along the beach to the end and then about turned.

Sitting on one of the groynes, we had lunch at which point light drizzle began – it was more like dampness in the wind so did not bother us too much. At Dawlish Warren we rejoined the sea wall path and walked back to Dawlish station, where the walk ended.

It had been a very pleasant walk and all walkers agreed, they were glad they had made the effort to brave the weather. This part of the coast is reportedly the sunniest stretch in Devon (officially) so I for one was not too surprised that it turned out well.